October 2020, Asia and Pacific 
Hispanic food processing and farm workers more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19
Chrissy Callahan

A new study from the CDC provides an update on the number of reported COVID-19 cases in farm and food processing workplaces.

Latino farm and meat processing workers have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Monday.

The study, published as part of the CDC’s January 2021 issue of the “Emerging Infectious Diseases”, examined the number of COVID-19 cases in US food processing, food manufacturing and agriculture workplaces from March 1–May 31, 2020.

The CDC compared data for food manufacturing and agriculture workers in 30 states, with 742 companies reporting a total of 8,978 cases and 55 deaths.

According to researchers, Hispanic and Latino employees make up approximately 37% of the workforce of the manufacturing and agriculture companies they polled. The group appears to have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and accounts for 73% of reported cases. In comparison, non-Hispanic Black people, who represent 5.9% of the workforce, account for 6.3% of reported cases. Those of Asian or Pacific Islander descent account for 4.1% of cases and represent 3.5% of the workforce.

After analyzing the data, researchers said their results suggest that “Hispanic or Latino, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander workers in these workplaces might be disproportionately affected by COVID-19.”